92 



tliese parties the rights of coustriictiou and the kinds and Iranchises 

 therewith connected. 



CoEN IN Mason County, Illinois. — Mr. J. Cochrane, of Havana, 

 Illinois, in a letter dated February 1, offers an approximate estimate 

 of the corn crops of Mason County, with a statement of the basis ojj 

 which the estimate is formed, embracing the following- points : Corn is 

 bought at thirteen points on three railroads, and also for shipment on 

 the Illinois Eiver, at Havana. The amount of the current crop taken 

 lip by buyers at the latter place is reported by them at 500,000 to date, 

 and the other points have taken 1,000,000 bushels. The amount coming- 

 forward, unsold, is 1,500,000 bushels, and the amount absorbed in stock- 

 feed is j)ut at 1,000,000 bushels, (although this is probably much below 

 the actual amount,) making a total of quite 4,000,000 Ijushels. The 

 crop of last year was cut short by drought and chinch-bugs, and the 

 corn product of the county, in a fair season, may be safely placed at 

 6,000,000 bushels. 



Cheese. — In the six principal dairy counties of Scotland it is esti- 

 mated that the milk of rather more than 100,000 cows is utilized for 

 the purpose of making cheese. The product is 18,000 tons annually; 

 worth, at the average price of last year, about $5,000,000. The Ayr- 

 shire cows, that are eminent for their milking qualities, even when fed 

 on i50or pastures, form the favorite breed. The cheese is made for about 

 one hundred and ninety days in the summer period of the year. After 

 this this milk is made into butter; or, if near a railroad station, sent 

 into town for sale. The American cheese-factory system is gradually 

 being adopted. The consumption of cheese is rapidly increasing and is 

 appreciated by the laboring classes, entering largely into their daily 

 diet. The reports of the American dairymen's associations are reprinted 

 in England. Many of the old English brands of cheese are passed by 

 and declined on coming into competition with recent American importa- 

 tions. 



Splenic or peeiodio fever in cattle. — Professor Gam gee's re- 

 port on this disease, which was made to the Department of Agriculture 

 and published in the annual report of 1809, is being republished in Eng- 

 land as an object of equal interest to farmers in both Europe and 

 America. 



Condensed milk has become an article of extensive use in London, 

 as well as for shipping purposes. The shelves of English grocers are 

 filled with the product of the Anglo-Swiss Company, which has 2,000 cows, 

 and the Aylesbury Company, that has 1,000. There are several other 

 large milk comiianies whose brands are well known to the shipping trade. 

 In Switzerland, Bavaria, and several districts on the continent, aie large 

 companies engaged in preparing condensed milk. The competition thus 

 induced in its manufacture, with the application of science, has resulted 

 in producing an article of great purity. Dealers in milk are now fined 

 heavily in England when convicted of diluting the article with even six- 

 teen per cent, of water. 



Argentine exposition. — The official report of the Government com- 

 mission on the trial of agricultural machinery at Cordova, in the Argen- 

 tine Republic, has been received at the Department of Agriculture. As 

 was to be expected, the contributions from the United States formed a 

 prominent feature of the exhibition. Of 151 entries of plows, mowing- 

 machines, reapers, harrows, seed-drills, cultivators, thrashing and mow- 



